


Creative Differences

by InksandPens



Category: Animator vs. Animation, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Alan Becker is a real person but this account of a moment in his life is entirely fictional, am I really the first person to write a fanfic for this series?, dialogue from Animator vs. Animation IV, i wrote this at two in the morning, look at me getting emotional over stick figures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 06:57:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12030582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InksandPens/pseuds/InksandPens
Summary: What made the animator hesitate? What I think was running through his head when he decided not to press "delete."





	Creative Differences

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of people seem to think that the animator hesitated because "wow, this stick figure has more talent then me, I could use that." That doesn't paint the animator in a very sympathetic light, so I tried approaching the moment from a different angle. In doing so I introduced existential discussion into a story about stick figures. I'd say I was sorry but I'd be lying.

He hadn’t really seen them as alive.

They were digital stick figures. He had drawn them, he had animated them. Yeah, they acted without prompting, and had proven destructively independent, but he had thought that was some dumb glitch. Some programming error in the software. Some techie’s idea of a joke. They weren’t sentient beings, he told himself.

Looking at his screen now, he was starting to question that assumption more than ever.

Those were _his_ concepts messing around on his computer, but he hadn’t drawn them there. He couldn’t draw that well. But the proportions were perfect, the modeling was consistent. And they had all been drawn by the little orange stick figure flitting across his screen on sketched wings like some tiny guardian angel.

Pensively, Alan removed his finger from where it hovered over the “delete” button. Why had the stick figure chosen to draw those concepts in particular? Had it seen them sitting on his desk and decided it could do better? Alan wouldn’t put mockery past the little guy, given its behavior so far. Then again, it seemed to have forgotten the animator even existed after it had destroyed the cursor.

Or, Alan wondered, had it come up with the ides on its own, and they just happened to be ideas that he had thought up also? Was that thing people said about putting a bit of yourself in your art true?

Both angles supported the idea of the little stick figure being capable of creative thought, making it more intelligent than just a program.

If that was the case, Alan realized, some of his problems from a few years ago made a bit more sense.

_Whap! Whap! Whap!_

Alan was jerked back into awareness upon noticing that one of the concepts had discovered his new cursor and was now pummeling it relentlessly. Panicking, he jabbed the “delete” button, erasing them all from the art board. The stick figure, suddenly wingless, fell, and the animator quickly trapped it in an effort to avoid more damage to his interface.

Though now that he had a theory, the animator wanted to test it. But how could he do that? Alan moved his cursor into the box, watching as the orange figure inside strained to keep away from it. Maybe if he double-clicked--!

**STOP!!**

Alan stopped.

“It _talks_?”

The animator switched to the text tool, posing his question to the stick figure. He didn’t have to wait long for a reply, even if it wasn’t a direct answer to his inquiry.

**DON’T DELETE ME PLEASE**

Was it trembling?

That clinched it. This thing was alive.

<<I’m not gonna delete you>> he assured it, before adding a tad indignantly <<You need to calm down.>>

The figure’s response was anything but calm.

 **you need to die**  

The fact that it felt enough conviction in this statement to use lowercase was almost as alarming as how frantically it had started thrashing about in the box, trying to break out. Alan wondered what exactly it meant when it spoke of killing him, given that it had seemed to think destroying his cursor was as good as death, and then wondered why he felt bad for the thing instead of worried for his own sake, but decided not to dwell on it. If it was alive, it could hopefully be reasoned with. Time to make his proposal.

<<Hey stick figure. You're a really good animator.>>

That got its attention. **what?**

<<If you help me animate,>> Alan typed, <<I'll let you free, as long as you don't wreck my computer.>>

**no**

_No?_ Lowercase again. It had even punctuated by turning its back on his offer. Wasn’t freedom what it wanted?  <<Why not??>>

The figure’s head turned slightly in his direction, and Alan could imagine it giving him a hateful glare as he read its reply.

**you ended my friends**

Oh.

<<Oh.>>

The animator had honestly forgotten about that. Idiot, wasn’t that what had started this whole escapade?

Well, at least it was an easy fix. Bringing the browser window back up, he refreshed the “stick figures fight” tab, and in the next second, all the fighters were back. And playing cards.

Huh. He hadn’t known they could do that. Today was just full of surprises.

As he stared, one of the fighters apparently caught sight of the orange figure, because it alerted the rest of the group, and they all waved. So, they recognized it. They _remembered_ it. Still feeling a bit stunned, Alan eyed the stick in the box. It wasn’t returning the waves, but it had gone noticeably slack. The animator felt himself reaffirming his theory as he realized it was stunned as well.

Suddenly it turned to face him.

**when do we start?**

Well, that was fast.

**Author's Note:**

> All dialogue in this work is from "Animator vs. Animation IV" by Alan Becker.


End file.
